Matambre: Argentinian Stuffed Flank Steak

Matambre: An Argentinian Stuffed flank steak with hard boiled eggs, bell peppers and a mixture of cilantro, garlic and olive oil. The matambre is then grilled to perfection and cut into thin slices before enjoying.

Well hello there, my friends. I feel like we need to expand our culinary skills and try different and interesting dishes so today I’d like to share with you an Argentinian dish called matambre. At first I thought Matambre meant rolled beef, but I’ve been correct and it literally means hunger killer! Well whatever it means, it does not matter! I love this because I don’t think I have any other Argentinian dishes here on Jo Cooks so this is a great first recipe.

Matambre is usually done with a very thin cut of beef sort of like a flank steak, so that’s what I used here because it’s easy to find. The most common ingredients to stuff matambre with are carrots, hard boiled eggs, garlic, and lots of black pepper, but again the ingredients can vary from province to province.

Here I made up my my own concoction with some olive oil, tons of garlic, cilantro, parsley, black pepper, salt and a bit of red pepper flakes. It’s sort of like a chimichurri sauce, but not really. Doesn’t matter because it smells phenomenal and I was almost tempted to brush it over some toast and eat it like that. Sometimes I’m just crazy.

You’ll have to butterfly the flank steak, so you’ll need a sharp knife. I basically cut a slit along the middle and sliced it so that you open it up like a letter. If you didn’t slice it evenly and some parts are thicker than others, don’t fret. Take a meat mallet and pound it to death until it’s even. That also helps with tenderizing the meat and it makes it nice and flat. I, however, thought I did such a great job, that I didn’t need the meat mallet, or I was just lazy.

Then you take that chimichurri look-alike sauce and spread it over the entire surface of the flank steak.

Take the quartered eggs and arrange them in 3 rows, like you see in the pictures above. Do the same thing with the bell peppers. Now just roll it up jelly-roll style as tight as you can.

You will need some butcher twine to tie up to make sure it holds together. I tied it up with about 5 strings just to make sure it’s nice and tight. Season it again with salt and pepper all around. All that’s left to do now is grill it. I heated my grill until the temperature said it was 400 F degrees. You will want to grill the matambre on all sides, 4 if you’re counting, about 5 minutes per side, about 20 minutes in total. Now for me this was done to my liking, but if you want the steak inside to be more cooked this is when I would place the matambre in a baking dish and continue roasting it in the oven for another 20 minutes or so at 400 F degrees. It just depends how rare you like your meat. Obviously the outside will be done more than the inside.

Let the matambre rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes before slicing into it. Now you finally can enjoy this tasty stuffed flank steak. The beauty of this is that it’s great cold or hot. You’re probably wondering what to serve this with, I personally always serve steak, any kind of steak, with a great salad.

Enough about matambre, I think you get it, it’s a stuffed flank steak with all kinds of goodies inside. Yum! But I’d like to move on to more important matters. I’d like to present you with my favorite cute little bum.

That cute bum belongs to my chubby little beagle Mia, in case you were wondering. And not only does she have the cutest bum, she also has the floppiest ears. Picture those going up and down, up and down as she comes running towards you. Yeah she may be an old girl, but she’s still my cute old girl.

And I just have to share this next picture with you because she looks like she has a beard here, too funny. This is after the long walk, she decided she needed a rest, so she parked herself in front of a car, not our car, just a car and relaxed. Ok I’m done now, on to the recipe.

If you guys love this recipe, and most importantly make it yourselves, please let us know. Take a picture and tag it #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!

Matambre: Argentinian Stuffed Flank Steak

Matambre: An Argentinian Stuffed flank steak with hard boiled eggs, bell peppers and a mixture of cilantro, garlic and olive oil. The matambre is then grilled to perfection and cut into thin slices before enjoying.

Instructions

Start by butterflying the steak by slicing it and opening it up like a book. If you want to make the meat thinner, you can pound it with a mallet to flatten it out and even out the thickness.

In a small bowl mix together the olive oil, cilantro, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.

Pour the cilantro and parsley mixture over the flank steak, and brush it evenly over the entire surface of the steak.

Arrange the quartered eggs in 3 rows across the flank steak at different intervals. Repeat with the sliced peppers. Carefully roll the meat up over the filling, I did it from left to right, across the grain, jelly roll style. Tie with butcher's twine to hold it together. Season the outside of the roll generously with salt and pepper.

The temperature on your grill should read around 400 F degrees. Place the roll on the grill and grill on both sides for about 4 or 5 minutes per side, about 20 minutes in total.

Let the roll rest for 15 minutes before slicing into it.

Notes

If the inside of the matambre is not done to your liking and prefer the meat more well done, place the roll in a baking dish and roast in the oven for another 20 minutes at 400 F degrees.

Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

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Oh my dear lord, this is ah-maz-ing! I’ve been dying to try it and finally made it tonight. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, and it tasted waaaay better than I imagined. I already want to make it again 💕💕

The recipe shows to grill then bake but yes you could bake it as well. The grilling is what gives it the true Argentinian texture and flavour. Oven temperature and times vary, so depending on your oven, you could bake it but would give it a different texture and flavour.

Hi Jo, This looks delish! Just wanted to let you know that Matambre literally means “hunger killer”, and this is served as a very thin sliced, cold appetizer with bread and chimichurri on the side, much like sandwich meat. My mom also boiled hers, and it was all we could do to not eat it until the next day!

Hi! I made this for my family tonight. The flavors were amazing! This recipe was fun to make. I drizzled a small amount of good quality balsamic vinegar over the top. The only complaint from my family was I didn’t make enough for seconds. I have been collecting recipes for each of my 2 adult children. If I make something they love then it gets printed and added to their recipe book. They have all their favorites in one place and personalized for them. This is going in both of their books.

Your version looks insane! I haven’t had a heavenly slice of matambre in years, and craving it like crazy right now! My mom used to make it every single Sunday night just because it was my absolute favorite meal on earth. So, between the asados for lunch and matambres for dinner, I’ll never forget the Sundays of my childhood. Now that I’m living alone, have very little time to cook, and got used to more american-style foods, never attempted to make it myself. I’ll probably screw it anyway unless my mom is there with me to help me, because the thing is that she never cooked it in a grill, neither in the oven. She’d put the roll in a big stock pot filled with water to the top, let it boil, add some sea salt and let the water evaporate, about an hour, maybe a little more. So when the juices of the meat that were contained on the water started to reduce, it would form some sort of a sauce, that was the thing that would give to the matambre a gorgeous golden brown tone, plus it would be covered in that yummy, sticky, savory sauce that would make it feel like it was a resemblance to what food probably tastes in heaven. Does it sound like too much? LOL. My mom was a genius. Thank you for bringing me so many memories! Now I’ll have to make the attempt and try it, with my mom at the phone, of course. Did I forget to mention that I’m from Buenos Aires, living in New York right now? Well, that.

Hi Mia, love the name, my dog’s name is Mia. 🙂 I have to say you’ve made me hungry at this late hour and now I’m craving asados and matambres! Glad I could help with the memories and I’m also the same way with some Romanian recipes, have my mom on the phone and she gives me instructions. 🙂

Hi! I’m a college student living in the dorms, and don’t have access to a grill. What changes would I need to make to properly cook this in the oven? Do I have to worry about it drying out or cooking improperly? My roommate and I were in the mood to cook something really nice next week but neither of us are terribly experienced.

This looks fantastic and I really want to try it. Do you think I could omit the egg and still get the gist of the thing? Obviously it won’t be exactly the same, but my fiance hates eggs so I kind of have to.

Oh Jo this looks wonderful!!! I love how gorgeous the eggs look in there…and that tip on how to butterfly is so gold! You make it look super easy! I find the word butterfly is typically very scary but you made it look easy as can be. And Mia… just the sweetest doggie ever 🙂 Have a great weekend!

Meet Jo

I'm Joanna (Jo for short) and this is my blog where I share with you my culinary adventures. Here you will find a variety of recipes using simple everyday ingredients and creating wonderful, delicious and comforting meals, including some decadent desserts.